Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Henderson, John (1797-1878)
HENDERSON, JOHN (1797–1878), collector of works of art and archæologist, born in Adelphi Terrace, London, in 1797, was son of John Henderson and Georgiana Jane, only child of George Keate, F.R.S. His father, an amateur artist of great merit, was an early patron of Thomas Girtin and J. M. W. Turner, who frequently worked together in his house, which was next door to that of Dr. Monro [q. v.] John Henderson the younger went at the age of sixteen as a fellow-commoner to Balliol College, Oxford (B.A. 1817 and M.A. 1820). He read for the bar, but devoted his life to the study of archæology and the collection of works of art. His collections, which he kept at his house, 3 Montague Street, Bloomsbury, were extremely valuable, and were formed with learned discrimination. He was an excellent artist, and was a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and other archæological societies, and a frequent attendant at their meetings and contributor to their ‘Proceedings.’ He died unmarried in 1878. By the codicil to his will, dated 1 Nov. 1877, Henderson bequeathed to the university of Oxford all his Greek and Roman vases and Egyptian antiquities; to the trustees of the British Museum his valuable collection of water-colour drawings by Canaletto, Turner, Girtin, Cozens, David Cox, and W. J. Müller (now in the print room), his collection of Russian silver and enamels, his Damascus, Persian, Rhodian, and majolica porcelain and pottery, his oriental and Venetian metal-work, his oriental arms, his Roman, Greek, and Venetian glass (all now in the department of general antiquities), and the correspondence of his grandfather, George Keate, with Voltaire and Dr. Edward Young (now in the department of manuscripts, Addit. MSS. 30991–2). To the trustees of the National Gallery he bequeathed his water-colour drawings by G. Cattermole and P. De Wint, two pictures by A. Canaletto, and any others of his old masters which they might select. Charles Cooper Henderson [q. v.] was his brother.
[Private information.]